Mapping project expands across Barrington school district

Project allows for deeper learning, collaboration

Posted 7/5/19

A group of second-graders at Sowams School spent one of the last days of the school year learning more about their state. 

The students watched presentations and studied projects created by …

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Mapping project expands across Barrington school district

Project allows for deeper learning, collaboration

Posted

A group of second-graders at Sowams School spent one of the last days of the school year learning more about their state. 

The students watched presentations and studied projects created by third-graders at Sowams which were part of a map project. This was the third straight year local students have participated in the project, but the first year that they were able to do so with a map of their very own.

In prior years, Sowams School has borrowed the large plastic floor map, which is offered by the Rhode Island Geography Education Alliance. But this year, with a grant from the Barrington Education Foundation, local teachers were able to purchase the district its own floor map.

Sowams School third grade teacher Jenny Gaynor wanted to thank the Barrington Education Foundation for its contribution. She added that while the map project was focused mainly at Sowams School in years past, now it will be expanded to the district's other elementary schools.

"The whole idea is that this is not just a Sowams thing anymore," Ms. Gaynor said. 

The project offers students the chance to take a deeper dive into learning about the state. 

Ms. Gaynor said students went on a field trip to learn more about immigration in Rhode Island, completed a scavenger hunt and read books as part of their work. After completing their research, students then created projects and made special placards that are then placed all over the large floor map. 

Students can also construct models to go with their project or build online slideshows. Students' project placards are given a small "quick response" code, or QR code. 

During one of the last days of school, second-graders had the chance to check out their classmates projects. Also during a family night event at the school, students and their parents could use tablets and phones to scan the codes and check out the presentations.

"They were very creative about how they wanted to do it," Ms. Gaynor said of the student presentations. "They have poems, they have all sorts of different ways of presenting the information. 

"It's highly engaging. It (also) teaches them how to collaborate, how to work in a community…"

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